Taliban desecrate Ahmad Shah Massoud’s tomb on 20th anniversary of his assassination
The visuals triggered outrage on social media, with some users pointing out that the Taliban had smashed glass with Quranic verses on it
Image of the destroyed tomb. Twitter/@AamajNews
The Taliban desecrated the tomb of Ahmad Shah Massoud on his 20th death anniversary, according to several media reports.
As per an India Today report, local media put out images that showed the vandalisation of the tombstone tomb of the ‘Lion of Panjshir.
شکستن شیشه مقبره مسعود در پنجشیر واکنش برانگیز شد
تصاویر تازه‌ی که در اختیار آماج قرار گرفته، حکایت از شکستن شیشه و سنگ مقبره فرمانده احمد شاه مسعود دارد. پیش ازین نشر این خبر واکنش‌های را همراه شده و برخی‌ها این کار طالبان را دشمنی با ارزش‌های یک قوم تلقی کرده‌اند.#آماج_نیوز pic.twitter.com/BVjVPdkSSv
— Aamaj News (@AamajN) September 9, 2021
A video of the same was shared by journalist Bashir Ahmad Qasani on Twitter.
امروز بیستمین سالروز شهادت قهرمان ملی شهید احمد شاه مسعود است. بیست سال در نبودش طالبان زادگاهش حاکم شدند و مقبره اش را ویران کردند. pic.twitter.com/aisJK62QUb — Bashir Ahmad Qasani (@AhmadQasani) September 8, 2021
The visuals triggered outrage on social media, with some users pointing out that the Taliban had smashed glass with Quranic verses on it, reported The Week.
The following verses were written on the glass on the stone of Ahmad Shah Massoud’s tomb, which Taliban broke with disrespect:
in the name of God
And do not say, “Whoever kills in the way of God, the dead will not be resurrected, but they will not be warned.” وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ pic.twitter.com/9sNdpz1dl2— PANJSHIR RESISTANCE (@PanjshirRes) September 8, 2021
Massoud, dubbed the “Lion of Panjshir” was an iconic and unifying figure for the Northern Alliance and Tajik minorities. Throughout the first Taliban regime, he led the Northern Alliance resistance against them. He was assassinated on 9 September, 2001, just days before the 9/11 attacks.
According to India Today, Massoud’s forces remained intact after his death and partnered with the US when it invaded Afghanistan weeks later, scattering Al-Qaeda, which orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, and driving the Taliban from power.
Along with other former warlords, they went on to form the core of the government and security forces that the US and its allies would spend the next two decades arming and training, at a cost of billions of dollars.
Those forces, which from the beginning were rife with corruption, collapsed in a matter of days earlier this month, as the Taliban captured most of the country less than three weeks before the US was set to withdraw its last troops.
His son Ahmad Massoud, joined by former Afghan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, is now leading the Panjshir forces against the Taliban.
With inputs from agencies
